Your good doctor recently took a trip to Vegas to check out the double header of Internext and Adult Entertainment Expo. For those of you new to adult tradeshows, Internext is the must see tradeshow for Adult webmasters or those thinking of getting into the online adult industry. Internext is held twice a year (usually January in Las Vegas, Nevada and August in Hollywood, Florida). This is the second Internext that I have attended and it just keeps getting better every time. The Pussy Ca$h banner said it all – Internext is the place to “Mix Business with Pleasure.”
Internext consists of three parts. The first is the tradeshow; this is the place to check out the latest in affiliate programs (companies that will help monetize your traffic). The tradeshow also has some product vendors and companies that will provide content to bolster your sites content. The second and what I found to be the biggest value to attendees are the sessions. The third part of Internext is the parties – this is where you can go to help solidify some of the relationships that you started during the sessions and tradeshows.
The tradeshow had several exhibitors and took up a good size convention center at the Mandalay Bay. All the top affiliate programs were in attendance hoping to gain the attention of webmasters from around the world. Everything from one-time big cash pay outs, prizes, site celebrities, and shared earning were used to attract affiliates. There were a few sex toy companies – but like everyone else their focus was on attracting new sites to carry their products. The tradeshow is the place to look into programs that can help convert your traffic to cash.
The sessions were the highlight of Internext. The producers of Internext pulled out all the stops to make sure that the sessions were hosted by the top names in the field. When it came to the legal sessions, not just any lawyers would do – all the top legal firms in the adult industry were there to give valuable advice on everything from how to start up a company legally (so you don’t get sued by some Granny in Kentucky) to how to protect your assets from any suit that does come your way. There were great sessions on picking affiliate programs, pay systems/billing, and how to generate traffic for your site. There were so many good sessions that it was easy to become overloaded with the deluge of information. The sessions were definitely not an afterthought but the focus of Internext (as far as I was concerned). If you are thinking of getting into the online adult industry, the first dollars you should invest are those for a ticket to the next Internext.
Of course what would be an Internext without the parties? Like all Internext events, some parties are open invites to all attendees and some are by invitation only. In our case we were so tired from covering all the sessions that we barely had any energy to make it to the parties. Some of the bigger parties going on were the Extreme Fetish Night sponsored by Extreme Paychecks and the Hustlaball (Tom Weise and Rentboy).
Overall it was a lot of fun and a lot of learning. Internext really helps webmasters focus on diagnosing their strengths and weaknesses and offering several prescriptions to help generate some serious cash flow. Each Internext seems to get better and it is good to see familiar faces and strengthen industry contacts. I can’t wait till Internext in Hollywood, Florida in August (5-7, 2005). The Westin Diplomat is a beautiful location and the parties will blow your mind.
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